Alpha-chloroacrylonitrile and method of preparing the same



.' trichloropropionitrile;

chlorination is caused'to proceed .betc-trichloropropionltrile, is obto reducing l The preparation oi the elphe-chloroecrylonitrile Patented Sept. 1 8, 1945 UNI-TED sTArEs mmi-noaoa'rmm'mnx arm I METHOD or rnnrsnmo 'rrm saua Albert M. omrsra. Stow, and James I). Dlonni,

Akron, Ohio, aalignora to Winzioot tion, Wilmington, Del a corporation of Dela- WIRO No Drawing. Application March 15, mo. semi rinszcm this. (erase-m) This invention relates; to new compcniflone oi turated nature and to a. method of preparing the same. More partihr, it rclntm to chloted acrylonitriles.

Numerous unsaturated compounds hnve been proposed and used for polymerinetions result 1r.

in plastic masses, useiul tor lacquers end the lihe, and, among these, many derivatives oi acrylic acid have been su ested. In perticulor, acry v ionitrile has been copolymerized with butadiene substance is then dehelogenated by .e

trile, prepared as above, by other methods, is converted to the desired product. The deha1o- .Benatins scent is first prepared by reacting 29 grams of magnesium metal with 51 grams of;-

iodine in 350 cc. oi butyl ether containing from $5 to 1 gram of hydroquinone. After the iodine color disappears, the flask containing the agent is hosted in an oil bath at 150 C. while 95 grams of alpha, alpha, beta-trichloropropionitrile'is means to leave the monochloro compound; e

reactions involved are the folio:

The 'dehelogenation wont be conducted with care and ithas been form! that the recon is promoted by metals and metallic couples such asliinc, zinc-copper, 'iron}1tin,' d partilm'a mixture oi magnesium and hip-Male, these terinls being employed in the new. oi

a solvent. The magnesium=magnosium ide dehalogenatlng agent is prepared by mg n considerable excess oi magnesium metal th elementary iodine in a suitable solvent contn c t. Thus, about flve'to ten lento oi mseium are reacted with one o lmt of ie in butyl other, or other solvent,

r a all quantity of hydrocuinonc.

ii with the tricoropropionitrllo viii can be prep by bubbling chlorine into more lonitrile at approetely room tom Under such conditions, there is on excellent oon= versi of ocrylonitrile to chloropioni trile. Dehaloation is conducted at tempernfl turos between about 108 and 2'. 0. d prom ably at about 150 C.

To illustrate the invention. the followup or mple is given in which the hichloropi...

ndded dropwise in 30-45 minutes, while stirring.

An exothermic reaction takes place with the removal by distillation o! the lower boiling product with butyl ether. Stirring and heating is continned after the addition is made until shout 250 cc. oi w? an hosobtained. Thisiashaken with me to remove free iodineand isthen iractionnted. 11; :1; w there obtained we ere, or 40%, of eipha -chloroeczwlonitrile.

to it mm: C. The reflective index wss N 1.4205 and the dety wee he 1.03 it will he npperent that the ditione pro the foregoing example may be varied to and methodeoi purifies. lion, without deperting 11' the ecope of the inrelation. cwiee, other metallic dehalogenating scents then thoce mentioned may he used and the Mo dehnloneneting agent may he prepared hy other menus then those described, provided ent contoine considerably more c that the cneeiuin .1 I

'w-l 1 w e, o ratio or 5:1 being suitable, but this hot g subject to some variation, a

10:1 ratio mo heme eflective.

The olphd-chlomacrylonitrile win subjected to.

cotio to test its utility in the ration oi nil comti. To this end, n wpolynier with budiene wee-formed by treaton co "Br-.. 0.1M; 0.4% la *1 1 T3 will W ....00.. It? Citrate-plies hate huiier -cc.. 1o e in ohtni were as follows:

Boiler Temp. Time Yield pH C. I Home: Percent 1.0 to in no.0

point. when redistilied. 0185-88 butediene but the chioroacrylonitriie was also polymerized alone and with other unsaturated compounds. Thus, the nitrile and one or two or more of the following materials may be mixed and ccpolymerized in an emulsion such as that described above or a similar emulsion. Tempera- Isoprene Dimethyi butediene styrene Chlorobutediene Vinyl naphthalene Vinyl furene Esters of acrylic and methscrslic sci Vinyl methyl ketone Methyl isopropenyl ketone Cysnobuteoliene Acrylonitrile Methacrylonitrile Phenyl butediene Methyl=l,3-pentstiiene Vinyl others Chlorostyrenes Alkyl styrenes While there has been d above the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent that various changes and modifications may be mode therein without departing from the spirit of such invention. Accordingly. the invention is to be limited only by the appended claims in which it is intended to set forth all features of pstentable novelty residing therein.

What we claim is:

1. As a. new composition of matter, slphs= chloroecrylonitrlle.

2. A method of preparing slpha-chloroacrylmnitriie which comprises heating alpha, alpha, bete-trichloropropionitrile in the presence of a solvent and s metallic olehslcgensting agent until two atoms of chlorine per mol oi pronionitrilt have been removed and recovering the elpho= chloroecrylonitrile.

3. A method of preparing alpha-chloroecrylo nitril which comprises heating alpha, alpha, hete-trichloropropionitrile in the presence of o mixture of magnesium and magnesium iconic and a. solvent until two atoms of chlorine per moi of propionitriie lz-rve been removed and recover ing olpho-chloroccrylonitrile 4. A method of preparing cipherchloroscrylo nitrile which comprises heating eiphe. cliche, bets-trichloropropionitrile in a solvent in inti mate contact with mamesium-megnesium iodide to a temperature in the neighborhood oi ice (2., distilling, treating with mercury to remove iosiiue and purifying.

5. A method of preparing slphs-chioroeerylo nitrile which comprises heating elphs, alpha, bete-trichloropropionitrile in intimate contest ,with the reaction product oi magnesium and less than its molecular equivalent of iodine to a temperature between about 100 and 208 (3., distilling and purifying the product.

6. A method of preparing alphs-chloroociwio nitrile which comprises heating alpha, slpho', beta=trichloropropionitzi1e in intimate contact with a mixture of magnesium and magnesium iodide containing approximately 5 to 10 mole oi m magnesium to one molecule of magnesium oxide -un'ti1 two stoma of chlorine per mol of propio nitrile have been removed and recovering elpho= OhlOlOflOI'YiODlfl'U-By 'l. A method of preparing alpha-chloroecrylo nitrile which comprises heating alpha, alpha, bets-trichloropropionitrile in the presence of solvent and a metallic dehelogennting agent to a. temperature between about 100 and 260 C.

8. A method of preparing olpho-chloroocrylo nitrile which comprises heating elpho, niche, beto=trichloropropionitxile m the presence oi as solvent and e. dehslogenating agent to's temper ature between about 100 and 200? C. 

